Wound On Foot - Update, Toe Infected, Post #16

[NeylasMom]

Zuri has a little sore where the nail from one toe has rubbed the skin on the adjacent toe. He LOVES to lick stuff like this. So I cleaned it off well and have him something else to lick last night (stuffed kong), and I am going to have the get cold laser the area today, but we need an option to keep him away from it for a few days.

 

I would really like to avoid the e-collar. I know some people have used baby socks, but are you taping those on? His skin is thin so I don't want to use tape. I could try vet wrapping it on, but am guessing that might slip. We do have therapaws, but the area really needs air flow. Help!

Edited August 4, 2016 by NeylasMom

[RedHead]

I have seen people make sort of sock "suspenders." You cut a small hole in the top of one sock, tie white elastic ribbon through (that people use to sew elastic into clothing). Then put the elastic over the dog's shoulder's/back and tie to another sock on the other foot (lol just google "sock suspenders for dogs" if this doesn't make sense) . Obviously though, this requires the dog to wear a sock on both paws unless there is a way to modify the suspender to hold up only 1 sock.

 

An easier way might just be to vet wrap the sock on the leg section...that shouldn't hurt the skin so much as most of the vet wrap would be around the sock. It should be quite secure if you wrap a good part of the leg, not just the top.

 

Once Teague had a little cut on his leg that he continued to lick and lick no matter what. One day I just stuck a band-aid over it (quite loose to allow a lot of air flow) and it healed right up.

[cristar]

I used baby socks for Ron.

Don't take it to the skin, just tape around the neck of the sock and it will stay on.

[NeylasMom]

I used baby socks for Ron.

Don't take it to the skin, just tape around the neck of the sock and it will stay on.

Oh, I see, thanks! Will try this. Now to get baby socks.

 

The sock suspender idea is interesting for sure, but this is a back foot so I don't think it would work.

[spottydog]

Baby sock with vet wrap. Careful not to wrap too tight...you don't want to end up with 'giant paw', and don't ask me how I know...

[XTRAWLD]

Yeah, a little bit of that self sticking vet tape just around the top should do it, great stuff.

[bradymom]

I use baby socks and blue painters tape. Brady would never bother the painters tape and it did not pull his fur.

[mrsmcd7]

I use Coban for everything, being that I'm an RN. I think it's the same as what ppl are referring to as vet tape. First I cover the wound w non-adherent gauze then secure w Coban.

Edited July 26, 2016 by mrsmcd7

[Greylover97]

Baby socks. I use paper tape on the sock. Tape it right above the thickest part of his paw. Fold the sock down over the tape so he can't chew at it.

[NeylasMom]

So I got the socks. Put one on, vet wrapped above. Zuri collapsed onto the floor, I kid you not. He's always done this nutty thing where he freaks and will fall down if something is wrong with a foot - the first time it happened he had a sand burr in his paw at Dewey and I thought he was having a seizure. I guess the way I had it wrapped sent a weird sensation because of his LS so off it came. At the moment he's just wearing the sock, which is good enough to deter him when he's napping. We'll try a little cloth tape for bed time. That would be better than using up a bunch of vet wrap anyway. Wish us luck that there are no more fainting incidents.

[Neighsayer]

Paper tape works fine, and is easier to get off. My Mickey had SLO. He lost dozens of nails over the years, and sometimes needed the foot wrapped for a day or two. He didn't think he could walk on a wrapped foot, and would hop on three legs until the wrap came off. He even did this with just a sock. I could take it off, and he would be fine, but if I put it back on, the foot didn't touch the ground!

[NeylasMom]

Cloth tape is working, thanks all!

 

He seems completely unphased by it so I don't even have to remove it for walks, etc.

[Guest MnMDogs]

Baby sock with vet wrap. Careful not to wrap too tight...you don't want to end up with 'giant paw', and don't ask me how I know...

Glad I'm not the only one who knows this. With the baby sock, how do you prevent the foot from slipping on hard flooring, bet wrap around bottom?

[NeylasMom]

We have carpet so no help on that one here.

 

Gratuitous if blurry pic of the patient wearing his sock. Wondering why I'm bugging him when he's sleeping.

 

[Greylover97]

Glad I'm not the only one who knows this. With the baby sock, how do you prevent the foot from slipping on hard flooring, bet wrap around bottom?

The baby socks I got from Kohl's have the size (3 to 12 months) embossed on the bottom (twice) with rubber. In my experience though, the sock slides around on the foot so the bottom doesn't usually stay on the bottom. I wonder if there would be less rotation with a smaller sized sock?

[NeylasMom]

Sigh. The wound wasn't healing because the adjacent nail just keeps rubbing so I had our massage therapist cold laser the wound Tuesday and made an appt to have it lasered again today since I had to take Skye in anyway. I wake up this morning and Zuri's 2 outer toes are HUGE! So I called the office to warn them the vet would have to see him too. She gave me a Chinese herb paste called golden yellow and I insisted on oral ABs, which I started as soon as we got home. If anything the swelling looks worse now, but dose one of golden yellow and/or the cold lasering has dried the actual wound nicely. He'll get his second dose of ABs before bed even though that's a bit early.

 

I'm so frustrated and overly anxious. We can't have anything serious with any toes that aren't on his cancer leg so I need this to heal and return to normal yesterday. And once the swelling is down, I'm still not sure how to keep the nail from rubbing and re-irritating it. The sock works nicely to keep him from licking, but he has scraggly paw pads so I'm realizing the sock gets sort of stuck and pushes the toes together. We may have to combine putting padding in between toes, wrapping with vet wrap a bit higher up and then putting the sock over. Just don't know if the padding will stay in place.

 

Well if you made it this far, thanks for listening to my whining and any additional suggestions for a way to let the wound get air, keep him from licking, AND keep the toe from rubbing are welcome. Neither my vet nor I want to do an e-collar and the other types won't keep him from his foot.

 

Not the best photo, but where oh where have Zuri's toes gone?

 

[lukasmom]

My boy just went thru this. I bandaged, used a Therapaw boot, left it uncovered and he wore a muzzle with a poop guard and a baby sock. For the sock I wrapped gauze around the top of the sock and then put vet wrap around. I think the vet wrap bothers his bare skin. The only problem with the sock is it would twist around his paw and the bottom of the sock that has traction control would and up on the top of the sock and he would slip on the floor. I have had issues with paws and locking forever. My animal communicator says he is a bit OCD. I explained to Luka that if he left his foot alone he wouldn't have to wear a muzzle and he said he didnt care.

[Guest AtticusMom]

I do wonder if some of our guys are predisposed to nails rubbing against the side of toes. A couple of my greys (littermates) had this issue, and they could not be dissuaded from licking in between those toes. I wish you and Zuri the best.

[NeylasMom]

Oh duh, I forgot about the muzzle with poop guard. Not ideal as he hasn't worn a muzzle in ages and will probably try relentlessly to remove it, but if we need it for short periods so it can air out or maybe overnight we can use one.

 

Lukasmom, was the one you were dealing with from a nail like this? Did you find a way to keep it from rubbing?

[Batmom]

We kept one of ours from rubbing by just wrapping the end of the nail vertically in a little piece of duct tape (imagine running a piece of tape down one side of your ankle, under your heel, and up the other side). That made it smooth and slippery so it didn't make the adjacent toe sore. Yeah, it came off from time to time but a 3/16" x 1" piece of duct tape is pretty cheap.

[NeylasMom]

We kept one of ours from rubbing by just wrapping the end of the nail vertically in a little piece of duct tape (imagine running a piece of tape down one side of your ankle, under your heel, and up the other side). That made it smooth and slippery so it didn't make the adjacent toe sore. Yeah, it came off from time to time but a 3/16" x 1" piece of duct tape is pretty cheap.

Thanks, will try that. It doesn't seem like it's the end of the nail rubbing - I've dremeled to make sure it's super smooth, but maybe when he steps certain ways - but it seems odd just the side of the nail pressing would do it. I guess it could if there was already a wound and friction kept irritating it.

[cleptogrey]

i am pretty neurotic about trying to keep felix's thick nails short and yes when short they do rub!! when i'm lazy or forget to dremel the longer exterior rear nails ,never rub or cause any problems. i will say one that was longish nails did pop right off when he was playing on the frozen winter ground. he hit it just the right way!now 5 months later he has a tiny stub of a nail growing in a strange direction. annie's nails are thinner, more petite and the confirmation of her paw does not allow the nails to rub the side of the two. go know...

[NeylasMom]

I gotta say I'm wishing I had pressed the vet to do a scraping and culture. I asked about doing that for Skye's vulva, but by the time we got to Z and she seemed so unconcerned and didn't even feel strongly about doing oral ABs I stupidly forgot about it.

 

I was hoping for more reduction in swelling by this morning with 2 doses of ABs in him, but at least it's not worse. We'll see where we get with the Epsom soaks today.